Thanks to the News & Observer posting the Wonderland Book Club in their “Triangle Reads” section, our Meetup group’s numbers have swelled from a hundred members to over 150. I can easily see why. Since its inception, Wonderland has been about getting members to read books they wouldn’t normally read. And more recently, Wonderland features the actual authors of the books we’re reading each month. We’re a very warm, accepting group—you don’t need to be a member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network to join (although that would be nice!), nor do you need to be working on your next novel. But I think the number one reason we’re growing is because we’re easy to join and easy to find on the internet. Through a web connection and a physical event, Meetup brings folks together who share a common interest. In fact, if I hadn’t made Wonderland a Meetup group six years ago, we’d be dead by now. Most book clubs that aren’t library or bookstore-related form from friendships, neighborhoods or clubs—there’s no county-wide book club directory and you need to be “in the know” to be invited. That’s what’s so neat about Wonderland Book Club: newcomers to the Triangle love it, it’s free and there’s no special code or association to join the fun!

So what do our guest authors discuss for two hours from 10 a.m. to noon? Usually the first hour is taken up with the book discussion, the author reads a few passages and then in the last hour the floor is opened for the story behind the book. How was this book published and marketed? How long did the author take to write the book? Did the plot or characters come first? And the questions continue when we take the author to lunch.

Want to join? It’s easy! Sign up as a free member at http://meetup.com/wonderlandbookclub so you know the details of our next meeting. We typically meet the last Friday of every month from 10 am to noon at the Center for Excellence, 3803‐B Computer Dr. Ste. 106 Raleigh, NC 27609. And if you don’t sign up beforehand, we want you to come anyway. I promise you our veteran members don’t bite and we love seeing new folks.

Published authors! Interested in being our guest in 2015? Email Alice at avosborn@earthlink.net. Spaces are filling fast.

The Wonderland Book Club is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers' Network (NCWN) www.ncwriters.org

Wonderland Book Club 2015 Schedule

All Meetings are held at the Center for Excellence Fridays from 10am-noon (all last Friday, except in Nov & Dec)

"Hi Everyone,
Due to the heavy snow, I've rescheduled tomorrow's book club with author Padgett Gerler for Fri March 6th--hope y'all can make the new date. Be safe out there!
~Alice
I've updated this Meetup...."

"Hi Everyone,
See you this Friday, Feb 27th for our Wonderland Book Club event with member-author Padgett Gerler, author of the novel Lessons I Learned from Nick Nack.
We meet from 10 am-noon at the Center for Excellence, 3803-B Computer Dr..."